My Lord Tomnoddy is thirty-four;The Earl can last but a few years more.My Lord in the Peers will take his place:Her Majestys councils his words will grace.Office hell hold and patronage sway;Fortunes and lives he will vote away;And what are his qualifications?ONE!Hes the Earl of Fitzdotterels eldest son.

Note 1.See Gay, page 350: Life is a jest and all things show it;I thought so once, but now I know it. Life s but a series of trifles at best. Anonymous. Life is an empty dream. Robert Browning. Paracelsus, ii. [back]